The original Winnipeg Jets were reluctant to leave in 1996

The economics of NHL hockey just weren't working for Winnipeg any more in 1996, and the franchisewould beheaded to Arizona.

But first they had a game to play.

CBC reporter Mark Lee summed up the action for a report that aired on Newsworld, CBC's24-hour news channel, the day after that last game on April 28, 1996.

"With an 0-for-28 power play, it was clear there would be no coming back on the Red Wings," said Lee, who reported from the game in Winnipeg as fans continued to cheer for the team that would lose 4-1 toDetroit."The Jets were gone for good."

With that, the Jets were knocked out in Game 6 of the first playoff round, four wins to two.

The game was over, but the players and fans didn'tquite seem ready to believe it.

'Best fans in the league'

"The fans, they stuck it out and they stood behind us," said player Kris King in the Jets' dressing room when the game was over. "They showed why they're the best fans in the league."

Even after the last horn, the players were slow to leave the ice, absorbing the cheers of fans and waving goodbye.

Inside the locker room, said Lee, "reality set in."

Players stood at the mirror to shaveoff playoff beards, and Keith Tkachuckhad yet to take off hispads long after everyone else was dressed.

"We're going to miss it," he said. "We're obviously hurt that we're out of the playoffs but if this is the way to do it, thenI'm glad that I played my last game here."

'In a daze'

Jetspresident and owner Barry Shenkarow was in the dressing room, too.

Visibly distraught by the knowledge that it was all over for the Jets, he wandered the room "in a daze' as things wound down.

"It's too late," he said. "That's it."

Flagging attendance in recent years and the unfavourable exchange rate salaries were paid in U.S. dollars took a toll on thehockey club's bottom line.

"I feel for the young kids out there that really don't understand why thisteam is leaving," said centre Eddie Olczyk. "The business aspect of sky boxes and suites and TV revenue."

Olczykwent on to have abroadcasting career with NBC after retiring from hockey.

"Yesterday afternoon after the cheering had died," summed up Lee, "there was just resignation."

Fifteen years later, Jets fans heard the news they'd long been dreaming of: NHLhockey was coming back.

The struggling Atlanta Thrashers franchise was purchased by a new ownership group in Winnipeg and rebrandedas the Jets. They would start the 2011-2012 season in a new building in downtown Winnipeg.